JE menace in northern Bangladesh

A mosquito-borne infection causing inflammation of the brain has emerged as ‘a public health concern’ in northern Bangladesh. The government’s disease monitoring agency, IEDCR, says about four among every 10 Japanese Encephalitis (JE) patients are from Rajshahi, Rangpur and Naogaon districts. “Its (JE) mortality is as high as 30 per cent,” director Prof Mahmudur Rahman has said at a press briefing on this apparently new disease. Almost 50 per cent of survivors live with ‘different types of neurological problems’, he said, while at least 40 per cent of the patients were found to be children below 15. But it is the only mosquito-borne disease that, according to the World Health Organisation, has a preventive vaccine. There is no specific treatment for this disease like dengue. There is no study to say why the virus is more common in the northern part, but Prof Rahman said, “May be pigs and birds that host the virus are more common there.” JE infected patients turn up with symptoms associated encephalitis like headache and fever, followed by confusion and convulsion, according to bdnews24.com.